


blind to your beauty

by irlfireprincess



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:08:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26323891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/irlfireprincess/pseuds/irlfireprincess
Summary: Toph is getting hit on and Sokka is jealous. Just some fluff for Tokka Week 2020 on tumblr for the prompt Jealousy.
Relationships: Toph Beifong/Sokka
Comments: 5
Kudos: 84





	blind to your beauty

Sokka was coming. Toph could feel it in the vibrations that rattled the most minute particles of dirt and stone beneath her feet, so subtle that most could never hope to sense them. But to her, the seismic patterns of a person’s walk were as clear a marker of their identity as the delicate variations of a fingerprint to the practiced eye of a detective. Oh, and by the quickened thumping of his heart, he was stressed, too. Or upset. Angry?

But what he did next, Toph’s senses couldn’t have prepared her for. 

Right in the middle of her conversation with some random yahoo on the street, he grabbed her arm, twirled her around to face him, and practically smashed his lips against hers. Stunned but not unhappy, she returned the kiss and looped her arms around his neck as he held her by the waist and tugged her in closer. The intensity of the kiss was not unusual – they had the tendency to get a little rough with each other, and liked it that way – but something about it felt a little different. Urgent. Maybe a touch performative. 

Oh. It was because of the other guy. It was jealousy that had Sokka’s heart racing. 

“What do you think you’re looking at, huh, dude?” The sharp bite of Sokka’s words came swiftly to confirm Toph’s fresh suspicion. 

“N-nothing! Hey, man, I didn’t know she had a boyfriend!” Toph could practically feel the heat rising to the other man’s cheeks by the way he tripped over his words. She bit her lip to stifle a chuckle. 

“Well, now you know!” Sokka shot back. “C’mon, Toph. We’re going.” He tugged at her arm, more gently this time, and she followed willingly, simultaneously visualizing the environment with her feet and trusting where he was taking her. 

Once they’d put some distance between themselves and the street rando, Toph found she couldn’t hold in her laughter any longer. It tumbled out in a rush and she snorted as she playfully squeezed Sokka’s arm a little tighter. “What was all that about, Snack Shack?”

A little chuckle escaped Sokka’s lips; she felt its vibrations echo in her grasp on his arm. Oh, she loved that sound. From time to time, Toph lamented that she would never be able to see the man she loved, could never memorize the contours of his face with her eyes. But when he laughed, all those thoughts fell away, and it felt the way she imagined it looked when the first peek of sunlight crept over the horizon at dawn. “I see you came up with another new, adoringly romantic nickname, huh, babe?” Sokka said. 

“Always.” Toph leaned up to press a quick, tiny kiss to Sokka’s cheek. “But damn, can’t a girl have a conversation?”

“Of course, you can,” Sokka answered. “I wouldn’t dream of saying otherwise. But… the guy was hitting on you!” 

Toph crinkled her nose in amusement as she let another snort slip out. Briefly, she recalled how her parents always scolded her for doing that, declaring it unladylike for a girl of her status, much in the same way everything she did in that house felt tightly guarded. But around this group of friends she had stumbled upon the day Aang had asked her to teach him earthbending, she felt free and without reservations, knowing they loved her for being her – no more and no less. But there was no one with whom she felt freer and more at ease than Sokka. “Me?” she said, then repeated, “Me? Hitting on me? Ha, good one!” 

“C’mon.” Sokka gently elbowed her in the side with their arms still linked. Toph was quick to elbow him right back. “I mean, look at you. You’ve got your hair down today; that’s, like, your secret weapon.” 

Instinctively, Toph patted her hair down from roots to tips to remind herself of what she’d done with it today. Too lazy to pull it all the way up like usual, she had let it down and then sloppily tied it back out of her face. She’d forgotten Sokka loved her hair long, even when she’d put exactly zero effort into it. “Huh.” She pressed her forefinger against her cheek in thought. “I mean, now that I think of it, I guess his heart rate was a little elevated. But still… me?” 

“Don’t tell me you don’t think guys wouldn’t wanna hit on you, Toph!” 

Toph shrugged loosely. “Not really… they don’t, not that often.” 

Sokka’s voice grew soft and earnest. “I know at least one person who did.” 

“You didn’t have to, Hot Sauce,” she said as she took his hand and intertwined her fingers with his. “You knew me. We’ve always been close. We kinda just… fell into each other.” 

“True,” Sokka mused. He swung their hands back and forth as they made their way down the streets of Republic City. “But anybody would be lucky to have you. I know I am. Like… you’re smart, you’re funny, you’re tough, and you’re beautiful.” 

“Beautiful?” Toph echoed. Her brows furrowed. The last time she could recall hearing that word, Sokka was high off his ass on cactus juice, and in the next breath, proclaimed that he had to rescue Katara from the 40-foot-tall, pink polka-dotted polar bear dog looming behind her. That was when they were still testing the waters of being together, not yet official, everything uncertain. She’d laughed it off, punched his shoulder, and poured a little for herself so she could get on his level. But those words fell on her ears differently when he was stone-cold sober and holding her hand with the firm gentleness of a man totally committed to her, a man who would never dare breathe a lie in her presence. “Sokka, I…” Toph trailed off as she combed the fingers of her free hand through her slightly tangled hair. “People don’t really think of me like that. None of the boys I knew growing up were ever really interested in me, you know?”

Sokka ran his thumb across the back of Toph’s hand. In that moment, she was compelled to trace along his face with her free hand to feel his gentle smile. “They’re probably just intimidated by how badass you are,” he said. “You’re probably the best earthbender those jokers’ve ever seen. You singlehandedly invented metalbending. You could probably whoop their scrawny asses in about a second. Some guys can’t handle it.” She felt him turn his head to look at her; this was one of those moments when she ached to know just what his eyes looked like. “Not gonna lie, you intimidated me sometimes too. Hell, you still do every now and then. But a real man is okay with being a little intimidated. Real men love that their girlfriend’s a badass.” He paused to press a kiss to her cheek. “But you are beautiful, Toph. I know you’re blind, like, in general…” Toph couldn’t help a giggle at this line. “But you’re blind to your beauty. And anybody else who doesn’t see it might as well be blind too.” 

Toph arched a brow at him. “Maybe it’s better for you if they don’t know it, eh? Less people trying to steal me away from you. Not that they’d get very far anyway.” 

“True. Damn, I’m going to have to start reminding you you’re beautiful more often.” 

The earthbender felt her cheeks warm a little at those words. “Thanks, Lunch Box,” she said. “You’re pretty sweet sometimes.” 

“Lunch b—” Sokka let out his own snort of laughter. “You know what, nevermind. Not even gonna question it at this point. I love your progressively weirder nicknames for me. And I love you.” 

Toph leaned into him as they walked. “I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Wowww my first fic on AO3! This is for Tokka Week 2020 on tumblr for the prompt Jealousy! Hope you all enjoy! Toph’s nicknames for Sokka were either borrowed from or inspired by Gus in Night at the Museum, because for some reason I could totally imagine Toph using these kinds of offbeat nicknames for people lmao


End file.
